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LONDON (Alliance News) - Travis Perkins PLC Monday said it intends to appoint KPMG as its new auditor, replacing Deloitte LLP which has been auditing the company's books for over 30 years, as the turnover of auditors in London's blue-chip index continued.
The appointment of KPMG will need to be approved by Travis Perkins shareholders at its annual general meeting on May 28.
The switch is the latest amongst a rash of auditor changes by London-listed companies, after the UK anti-trust regulator and the European Commission put in new rules in the wake of the financial crisis requiring companies in the FTSE 350 to re-tender for auditing business every 10 years. The changes came after auditors came in for criticism for not spotting issues within the financial services industry in the run-up to the financial crisis.
British American Tobacco PLC last week appointed KPMG LLP as its new external auditor, replacing PricewaterhouseCoopers PLC which had been the company's auditor since it listed in 1998. Other FTSE 100 companies to have recently switched auditors include HSBC Holdings PLC, which switched to PwC from KPMG, Unilever PLC, which switched to KPMG from PwC, Whitbread PLC, which switched to Deloitte from Ernst & Young, J Sainsbury PLC, which switched to Ernst & Young from PwC, and Vodafone, which ended a 26-year relationship with Deloitte by switching to PwC.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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